Even in normal times, people turn to me with the question: Well, what's going on? Say, what was advertised is true? In most cases, if I know the answer from reliable sources, I answer, explain, try to deconstruct truth from lying.
In cases where I don't have the answer, I say I don't know.
Most of the time the response will be: Well, really, you're the journalist. That you won't know who told whom and why?
In the 59 days since the bitter and hasty day of October 7, the terrible day of failure that claimed so many lives and sent hundreds into Hamas captivity, questions have become more frequent and descriptions no less difficult. I am often amazed at the verbal details of the cases I am asked about, which have no connection to the truth.
Unfortunately, social networks are full of stories, which have a particularly tenuous connection to reality. One of my friends insisted that something terrible had happened to one of the freed women. All my attempts to tell him that this was not true, and that she was fine except for the harsh fact that she was held captive by human monsters, did not convince him. But it was on the networks, an anonymous person posted and he knows - that was his answer.
These days, we are commanded to exercise caution. This is about human life, the law of souls, and not a bit of gossip is worth the anguish caused to the abductees, abductees, those redeemed from captivity and the redemptions of captivity and their families. Returnees need quiet and care to return to their previous lives. Those who are still there, in Gaza, will not benefit from another nonsense thing that will be published about them.
This is true of other questions as well. People should know how to say - I don't know the answer.
Nothing will fall from the respondents' hair, or their prestige, or their public status, or their self-image, if they simply say, I don't know, let's wait for the official announcement by the government, the IDF Spokesperson, the police, MDA or any official body that is supposed to publish the correct and accurate information about that question, about people or about a particular case.
Unfortunately, Israelis, like Israelis, like to show that they know. That they have a high-ranking member in the army, in the police, in the Shin Bet, in the Mossad. They like to boast that they have NLAN directly to the head of the National Security Council, and even to the prime minister. They insist that what they say is as true as the tablets given to Moses at Sinai.
Nothing will fall from the hair on the respondents' heads, or their prestige, or their public status, or their self-image, if they simply say, I don't know
In most cases, the information is not information, but gossip, and the above exists only in the imagination.
Without sounding fussy, I will speak in praise of hesitation. Lift your fingers from the keyboard before recycling information. Check. Think, hesitate. Hesitation is not weakness. Hesitation with thought behind it is power, and it has great power. Not everything needs to be flipped all over WhatsApp and in the various groups. Not all information is worth recycling. Not every question needs to be answered, even if you know the answer, which may embarrass or hurt.
It is worth remembering, no one has yet regretted an offensive sentence he did not say, an interview in which he did not speak nonsense, an unnecessary answer to an even more unnecessary question, a WhatsApp he received and did not transfer, even if everyone forwarded it to everyone. In praise of hesitation.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us